The Switch is a great system and has been selling well since its launch back in March. Despite all of its success, there’s still a lot of criticism being thrown its way. One complaint that I’ve seen regularly is that the system lacks lacks third-party support. Nintendo home consoles have not had good third-party support since the days of the SNES, so it isn’t exactly surprising that the Switch isn’t drowning in a flow of third-party titles. Even so, it would be nice to see the number of games increase. It looks like Nintendo is aware of that too.

Nintendo of France’s Managing Director Philippe Lavoué was interviewed by the folks over at Gamekult. Nintendo Everything was able to get a proper translation of the interview; there’s a lot of interesting details. One note in particular is what Lavoué had to say about third-party titles on the Switch. Here it is:

Interviewer: “In spite of this, aren’t you afraid that this console might remain a secondary system, especially considering the third-party offers, which are rather discreet as we saw on the E3 floor or during the Nintendo Showcase?”

Lavoué: “Indeed, it’s a challenge, but there are positive signs. Electronic Arts will release FIFA 18 day-one on Switch: it’s a strong message, something we can be proud of since it comes from the game that sells the most in volume in France. The novel, crossover approach with Ubisoft is also very interesting. NBA 2K18 will be on the console, even though it is less visible as we speak, and there are also other projects that I know about but which weren’t officially announced.“

There have been surprise announcements such as Rocket League, which was revealed at the very beginning of Nintendo’s E3 2017 Presentation. It makes you wonder what else the company has in store. But the thing is, why are announcements being held back when the community is clamoring for news? Well, the interviewer asked Lavoué that question:

Interviewer: “Be it NBA, FIFA or even Skyrim, we’re talking about games that were announced at the same time as the Switch. Apart from those, we don’t really have a clear view of third-party initiatives. Is it because developers have chosen to wait until the console’s reception is known, which would explain their discretion at E3?”

Lavoué: “It’s important to remember that there are two dimensions to communication: one is meant for the public, and the other is business-to-business. Everyone allocates their communication according to their priorities, as well as a very dense competitive landscape. And those concerns aren’t always aimed towards the consumer.”

3rd party support? i would be happy if it got some first party support. we need games and a virtual console that taps into the previous umpteen generations of beloved nintendo games (not just nes/snes)!!

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